President Donald Trump came back into office in 2025, after promising to bring an end to Russia and Ukraine’s war, possibly as soon as his first day in office. Weeks later, the president and Vice President JD Vance dressed down Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, implying to him that he couldn’t win the war and should accept peace. Trump had even mocked Zelensky for wearing casual clothes to the meeting.
In the year and a half since then, as with most things, Trump has gone back and forth between differing public positions. Trump has reportedly been impressed with Ukraine’s resilience in the conflict, and last week, he reportedly agreed to grant Ukraine a license to build Patriot missiles. Earlier this month, Trump signed into law a new set of sanctions, named after the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, who had been pushing for such measures leading up to his death this summer.
Putin Back in 2010 Creative Commons Image
Putin at Women’s Forum Creative Commons Photo
However, some new reports indicate that Trump is not fully committed to siding with Ukraine in the war, and has some goals in mind that would be helpful to Russia as well.
“Constructive” Talks
According to a Reuters report, citing a U.S. official, Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, also head of the RDIF sovereign wealth fund, visited the United States and met with officials. In those meetings, described as “constructive,” officials discussed paths to peace in the conflict and possible U.S.-Russia energy initiatives after the war.
Dmitriev met with representatives from the U.S. Treasury and Energy departments, as well as with Trump’s own envoys, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Meanwhile, The Atlantic reported another potential line of negotiation between the United States and Russia, which it called “a most Trumpian plan to make nice with Russia.”
According to the report, the idea came from John Coale, Trump’s envoy to Eastern Europe: Russia would agree to release some political prisoners, and in exchange, the U.S. would ease some economic sanctions. Coale has pursued similar goals for the last year in Belarus, a Russian ally, convincing that nation’s leader, Alexander Lukashenko, to release hundreds of prisoners in exchange for sanctions relief.
Coale, a longtime high-powered Washington lawyer, is married to former Fox News host Greta Van Susteren.
Trump, The Atlantic reported, has “signed on” to the prisoners-for-sanctions-relief idea, which remains in its early stages.
Should such a deal come together, it would help Trump in several ways: It would allow the U.S. to make the sort of energy deals with Russia that sanctions have prevented, while delivering the sort of diplomatic victory that’s been elusive amid the Russia-Ukraine stalemate. And releasing prisoners would deliver a PR win for the president and strengthen his case for a Nobel Peace Prize, although the long war in Iran would seem to deal a fatal blow to those chances.
However, if Trump pursued that track, Ukraine, its NATO partners, and even some on Capitol Hill would likely not welcome it, the Atlantic said. Zelensky has been clear that he is against any sanctions relief for Russia for as long as the war continues.
Kushner, the Atlantic story said, has tried to make the case to Putin in recent meetings that there is “money to be made on the back of a peace deal,” with the envoy and Trump son-in-law also using the phrase “prosperity agreements” to describe such potential deals.
A Trilateral Meeting?
Per the New York Post, Trump has invited Putin to the G20 Summit this December at Trump’s Doral resort in Florida, which would be the Russian leader’s first appearance at such a summit since 2019. Russia remains a member of the G20, but was removed from the G8 — now known as the G7 — after the invasion of Crimea in 2014.
Zelensky is seeking a trilateral meeting with Putin and Trump, to potentially take place at that Florida summit. However, the Kremlin says Putin has not yet decided whether to attend the G20, and the Spectator reported this week that Putin seems unlikely to accept the invitation to Doral.
Putin’s trip to Alaska for his summit with President Trump last August was his first time on U.S. soil since 2015.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
